Huangshan Maofeng Harvest - When Is It?

by Stephanie
(Malden, Massachusetts, USA)

I have been following your site for a few months and am interested in sampling several (maybe even all) of your teas when the spring harvests have all come in.

I see that you give dates or estimates for most of them, but not for when you will be able to restock the Huangshan Maofeng. Do you know when this will be? Thanks!

Answer:
Stephanie, thank you for your interest.

The Huangshan Maofeng harvest will take place in April, probably quite late. There are several reasons for this.

First, this tea is produced in Anhui province, further up north, so harvest takes place later.

Second, this Everyday grade is lower grade and harvested later. Myself and HQ are not sure of the harvesting date of this grade, but looking at the appearance, we would think it is a late Pre-Ming and even Pre-rain. Despite the lower grade, we are happy with the quality of this tea and think it offers great value for money for an everyday beverage.

Third, during the spring season, we tend to concentrate first on the household tea gardens i.e. the Tribute Dragon Well, and the soon to be launched Jiakeng Monkey Chief tea and Dong Ting Biluochun tea.

Teas that are sourced through the bigger commercial producers will come later as it tends to be the small tea gardens that run out of stock first. (They also have the purest grade and highest quality - you just have to get there first.)

As for this Huangshan Maofeng tea, it is possible we might add premium grade this year - all depending on whether we can get the quality we want.

I hope this helps.

Julian